The 5th Division in 1914-1918

This Division was part of the original British Expeditionary Force and remained
on the Western Front until late 1917 when it moved to Italy.
It took part in most
of the major actions, including:

1914
The Battle of Mons and subsequent retreat, including the Action of Elouges
The Battle of Le Cateau and the Affair of Crepy-en-Valois
The
Battle of the Marne
The
Battle of the Aisne
The Battles of La Bassee and Messines 1914
The First Battle of Ypres

1915
The Second Battle of Ypres and the Capture of Hill 60

In
late 1915, many units were switched for those of 32nd Division, a
newly arrived volunteer formation. The idea was to strengthen ("stiffen" in the jargon of the time) the inexperienced
Division buy mixing in some regular army troops; even though
by now many of the pre-war regulars had gone and the regular
battalions themselves were often largely composed of new recruits.

1916
March
1916 saw a move, with 5th Division taking over a section of front
line between St Laurent Blangy and the southern edge of Vimy Ridge,
in front of Arras. This was a lively time, with many trench raids,
sniping and mining activities in the front lines. When the Franco-British offensive opened on the Somme on 1 July
1916, the 5th Division was enjoying a period of rest and re-fit and was
in GHQ Reserve. However, this restful time was not destined to last:
The Attacks on High Wood*
The Battle of Guillemont*
The Battle of Flers-Courcelette*
The Battle of Morval*
The Battle of Le Transloy*
The battles marked * are phases of the Battles of the Somme 1916

By
5 October 1916 the Division had left the Somme and was holding a quieter
line near Festubert. There was a constant threat from enemy artillery
and sniper fire, but in comparison with the Somme it was a relatively
tranquil period that lasted until March 1917.

1917
The Battle of Vimy**
The Attack on La Coulotte**
The Third Battle of the Scarpe** including the Capture by the Division of Oppy Wood
The battles marked ** are phases of the Battles of Arras 1917

On
7 September 1917 the Division was relieved and moved out of the line
for a period, being sent next to join the great offensive in Flanders

The Battle of Polygon Wood***
The Battle of Broodseinde***
The Battle of Poelcapelle***
The Second Battle of Passchendaele***
The battles marked *** are phases of the Third Battle of Ypres

A
major change now occurred with 5th Division being one of five British
formations selected to be moved to Italy. This was a strategic and
political move agreed by the British Government at the request of
the Allied Supreme War Council, as an effort to stiffen Italian
resistance to enemy attack after a recent disaster at Caporetto. Many
diaries at this time, by men who had witnessed slaughter in the floods
of Passchendaele, talk of the move and Italy as being "like
another world". Much work was done preparing to move into the
mountainous area of the Brenta, but eventually the Division was instead
moved to the line along the River Piave, taking up positions in late
January 1918. Unfortunately
this pleasant period was not to last, for the Division was recalled
hurriedly to France, once the enemy had made an attack in overwhelming
strength on 21 March.

1918
The Battle of Hazebrouck+ in which the battalion fought in the Defence of Nieppe Forest
The battle marked + is a phase of the Battles of the Lys

On
14 August 1918 the Division was withdrawn for rest and placed in GHQ Reserve.
Two weeks later it entered into what became a series of complex, endless,
overlapping Allied attacks that forced the German Army into retreat.
Fighting through Albert (back on the old and devastated Somme ground
of 1916), to Irles, Beugny, Havrincourt, Gonnelieu and the River Selle,
and finally into Valenciennes and the River Sambre, the Division was
in more or less continuous action until late October 1918.
The Battle of Albert+
The Battle of Bapaume+
The Battle of Drocourt-Queant+
The battles marked + are phases of the Second Battles of the Somme 1918
The Battle of the Epehy^
The Battle of the Canal du Nord^
The battles marked ^ are phases of the Battles of the Hindenburg Line
The pursuit to the Selle++
The Battle of the Selle++
The battles marked ++ are phases of the Final Advance in Picardy

The
Division remained in the area of Le Quesnoy until mid-December 1918, as
demobilisation commenced. On 13 December, the Division began a march
into Belgium, eventually to the area between Namur and Wavre. The
first men were demobilised on 22 December and more followed at regular
intervals through early 1919.

The order of battle of the 5th Division

13th Brigade

This Brigade was attached to 28th Division between 23 February 1915 and 7 April 1915 in exchange for 84th Brigade

2nd
Bn, the King's Own Scottish Borderers

2nd Bn, the Duke of Wellington's

left January 1916

1st Bn, the Royal West Kent Regt

2nd Bn, the Yorkshire Light Infantry

left December 1915

1/9th Bn, the London Regt

joined November 1915, left February 1915

14th Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regt

joined December 1915, left October 1918

15th Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regt

joined January 1916, disbanded October 1918

16th Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regt

joined October 1918

13th
Machine Gun Company

formed on 24 December 1915
left to move into 5th MG
Battalion 26 April 1918

13th
Trench Mortar Battery

formed April 1916

14th
Brigade

Brigade transferred to 32nd Division on 30 December 1915

1st Bn, the Devonshire Regt

left for 95th Bde 12 January 1916

2nd Bn, the Suffolk Regt

left September 1914

1st Bn, the East Surrey Regt

left for 95th Bde 12 January 1916

1st Bn, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

left for 95th Bde 12 January 1916

2nd Bn, the Manchester Regt

1/5th Bn, the Cheshire Regt

joined February 1915, left November 1915

1/9th Bn, the Royal Scots

joined November 1915

2nd Bn, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

joined November 1915

15th
Brigade

This Brigade was attached to 28th Division between 3 March 1915 and 7 April 1915 in exchange for 83rd Brigade

1st Bn, the Norfolk Regt

1st Bn, the Bedfordshire Regt

1st Bn, the Cheshire Regt

1st Bn, the Dorsetshire Regt

left November 1915

1/6th Bn, the Cheshire Regt

joined December 1914, left March 1915

1/6th Bn, the King's (Liverpool Regt)

joined February 1915, left November 1915

16th Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regt

joined December 1915, left October 1918

15th Brigade
Machine Gun Company

formed on 27 December 1915
left to move into 5th MG
Battalion 26 April 1918

15th
Trench Mortar Battery

formed April 1916

95th
Brigade

Brigade transferred from 32nd Division on 26 December 1915

14th
Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment

(1st Birmingham City) left for 13th Bde 28 December 1915

15th
Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment

(2nd Birmingham City) left for 14th Bde 28 December 1915

16th
Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment

(3rd Birmingham City) left for 15th Bde 26 December 1915

12th Bn, the Gloucestershire Regt

(Bristol's Own) disbanded October 1918

1st Bn, the Devonshire Regt

joined from 14th Bde 12 January 1916

1st Bn, the East Surrey Regt

joined from 14th Bde 12 January 1916

1st Bn, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

joined from 14th Bde 12 January 1916

95th Brigade
Machine Gun Company

formed on 20 December 1915 as 14th Company
left to move into 5th MG
Battalion 26 April 1918

95th
Trench Mortar Battery

formed April 1916

Divisional
Troops

1/6th Bn, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders

joined
as Divisional Pioneer Battalion in June 1915, left October 1918

1/5th Bn, the Cheshire Regt

joined
as Divisional Pioneer Battalion in November 1915, left February 1916

14th Bn, the Royal Warwickshire Regt

joined as Divisional Pioneer Battalion in October 1918

205th Company, the Machine Gun Corps

joined 19 March 1917
left to move into 5th MG
Battalion 26 February 1918

No 5 Battalion, the Machine Gun Corps

formed
26 February 1918

Divisional
Mounted Troops

A Squadron, the 19th Hussars

left April 1915

C Sqn, the 1/st Northamptonshire Yeomanry

joined and left in early April 1915

5th Company, Army Cyclist Corps

left June 1916

Divisional
Artillery

VIII (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA

left May 1916

XV Brigade, RFA

XVII Brigade, RFA

XVIII Brigade, RFA

left January 1917

5th Divisional Ammunition Column RFA

108th Heavy Battery RGA

left April 1915

No 6 Pom-Pom Section RGA

attached 12 September 1914 to December 1914

V.5 Heavy Trench Mortar Battery RFA

formed 18 October 1916, left November 1917

X.5, Y.5 and Z.5 Medium Mortar Batteries RFA

joined in April 1916; on 15 March 1918, Z broken up and
batteries reorganised to have 6 x 6-inch weapons each

Royal
Engineers

17th
Field Company

left September 1915

59th
Field Company

2nd (Home Counties) Field
Company

joined February 1915, later renamed 491st Field Company RE

2nd (Durham) Field
Company

joined September 1915, later renamed 527th Field Company RE

5th
Divisional Signals Company

Royal
Army Medical Corps

13th
Field Ambulance

14th
Field Ambulance

15th
Field Ambulance

6th Sanitary Section

joined 9 January 1915, left 2 April 1917

Other
Divisional Troops

5th
Divisional Train ASC

4, 6, 33 and 37 Companies

5th
Mobile Veterinary Section AVC

208th Divisional Employment Company

joined 22 May 1917 at which time it was 10th Divisional Employment Company; renamed in June 1917

The Battle of Albert, 21 August 1918 (the Second Somme 1918) at Achiet-le-Petit: Captain Benjamin H Geary VC of the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment of 5th Division being carried in on a stretcher by prisoner bearers . Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.

As there is no memorial to the 5th Division, for this page I have used an image of Hill 60 near Ypres. The Division was in intensive action here for many months in 1915. This page is from the popular contemporary magazine "War Illustrated" and is from the excellent website "The Great War in a different light".

Links

This page is dedicated to the memory of my grandfather-in-law Thomas Park McSloy, a blacksmith from Blyth in Northumberland who served throughout with the 2nd (Durham) Field Company RE, becoming a Sergeant. On his return in 1919 his old employer the Star Foundry refused to let him have a job and he moved to work on the surface at the Woodhorn colliery at Ashington. Later on, Tommy became known for his paintings of industrial work and is one of the famous "Ashington Group" of artists. His work is exhibited as part of the "pitmen painters" collection at Woodhorn Museum.